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DETAILED DESCRIPTION:
Fun Fun Brothers is a 26 meg two player simultaneous NEOGEO puzzle game developed by
Alpha Denshi in 1991. It is the most famous and historically significant proto for the
NeoGeo system. Mostly because it was the first one ever to be discovered. It is a puzzle
game that plays off the "Blues Brothers" movie theme. The strikingly similar plot goes
something like this: An orphanage that is facing foreclosure desperately needs a financial
miracle or they will lose the title deed to their property, and the poor orphan kids will
have no place to live. So in order to save the day, the two Brothers respond to the call
claiming to be thieves of justice!
Built from the ashes of 2 failed projects, Alpha Denshi's third and final attempt at a
NEOGEO puzzle game was indeed 3 times the charm! Once again, several changes, improvements,
and enhancements were made to the Sunshine game engine, but this time they got it right!
This wasn't just some minor tweak job either. The game got completely overhauled. It was finally
given an actual storyline, complete with characters and an antagonist. It was given a completely
new theme and a real full introduction was added. The undefined level system was completely
abandoned and proper stages were implemented. The items became bombs and the sun shines became
luckys. Most importantly, there was now a set quota for each stage which had to be met in order
to progress to the next level and a clearly defined goal for what you were doing in the game and
why. The beach theme was entirely scrapped and completely new backgrounds were made. The sundish
became an actual moving vehicle with characters who drove it. And most importantly, the puzzle
pieces themselves were also modified. They were graphically enhanced to be gems and stones rather
then just simple blocks.
The problem was that it was just too little too late. It was now Spring of 1991,
and Alpha was trying to polish up an early 1990 launch title and putting it up against
newer and better titles. The game was showing its age regardless and so it too was canceled.
INFORMATION TIMELINE:
-- March 1991 -- a development cartridge of Fun Fun Bros. is assembled by SNK as a test sample.
-- December 1997 -- a video of the game being played is recorded.
-- February 1998 -- the cartridge is privately purchased.
-- August 1998 -- the NGM / NGH software product number is revealed to be 026.
CURRENT STATUS: UNAVAILABLE
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